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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that he intends to stay in office as he met with members of his Cabinet in crunch talks that could determine his future.
Starmer is trying to shore up support within his Cabinet following hefty losses for the Labour Party in local elections last week, which if repeated in a national election would see it overwhelmingly ejected from power.
The meeting was taking place after more than 70 Labour backbenchers, representing nearly a fifth of the party’s representation in Parliament, said that Starmer should stand down, or at least set out a timetable for his departure.
On Tuesday, junior minister Miatta Fahnbulleh stepped down and urged Starmer “to do the right thing for the country” and set a timetable to step aside.
Fahnbulleh, who was the housing, communities and local government minister, said that she was proud of her service, but that the government hadn’t acted with the vision, pace and mandate for change it had been given by voters.
“Nor have we governed as a Labour Party clear about our values and strong in our convictions,” she said.
And Minister for Safeguarding, Jess Phillips, wrote in a letter to Starmer, reported by Sky News and others, that she “cannot continue to serve as a minister under the current leadership” adding she was “not seeing the change I need.”
But Starmer doubled down on his resolve to stay in office.
Starmer told Cabinet ministers that he took responsibility for devastating losses in last week’s local elections across the UK but he would fight on.
Starmer said that there’s a process to oust a leader and that it hadn’t been triggered.
“The country expects us to get on with governing,” he said. ”That is what I am doing and what we must do.”
Starmer on Monday rejected demands that he step down in a speech in London that was intended to answer his detractors, saying that he would “face up to the big challenges” and restore hope to Britain.
Labour has been plunged into panic by heavy losses last week in local elections across England and legislative votes in Scotland and Wales.
The elections were seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he swept to power in a landslide win less than two years ago.
Starmer’s government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and shield the public from the rising cost of living.
Confidence in Starmer has also been damaged by policy U-turns on issues including welfare reform and his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as ambassador to the United States.
Last week’s elections saw Labour squeezed from right and left, losing votes to both the anti-immigrant Reform UK and the “eco-populist” Green Party. The result reflects the increasing fragmentation of UK politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.
Starmer hoped to regain momentum with the speech on Monday and an ambitious set of legislative plans to be set out by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.
Additional sources • AP
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